Amabie is a Japanese yōkai (supernatural creature) from 1846 folklore, depicted as a mermaid-like being with a beak, long hair, fish scales, and three fin-like legs. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it went viral as people drew and shared its image to symbolically ward off disease[1].

Where did Amabie come from?

The original legend places Amabie in Higo Province (modern Kumamoto Prefecture), where it supposedly appeared to a government official in mid-May 1846. The encounter was published in a kawaraban woodblock-printed news bulletin[4].

What does Amabie mean?

The name's meaning is uncertain. Scholars believe it may be a misspelling of "amabiko," which roughly translates to "sea prince" (海彦), a related prophetic creature with more extensive historical records[6].

How do you use the Amabie meme?

Draw your own version of Amabie in any medium, post it online with hashtags like #AMABIEchallenge, and include a message wishing for health or an end to disease. There's no fixed art style, and people use everything from pencil sketches to clay sculptures to embroidery[9].

Is Amabie still popular?

Amabie peaked during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and is now a recognized piece of pandemic-era internet culture. The creature's image still appears on merchandise and in Japanese pop culture, though the mass illustration movement wound down after 2020[10].

Who started the Amabie meme during COVID-19?

Twitter user @shigeokahide posted the first COVID-era Amabie illustration on February 28, 2020, captioned "Coronavirus measures"[5]. A Shigeru Mizuki fan account had connected the legend to COVID-19 as early as January 30, 2020[10].

What did the Japanese government do with Amabie?

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published official COVID-19 awareness posters featuring Amabie on April 7 and 9, 2020, using the yōkai to reach younger demographics[2].

How did Mizuki Production help Amabie go viral?

On March 17, 2020, Mizuki Production tweeted an illustration of Amabie by the late manga artist Shigeru Mizuki with the caption "May the modern-day plague go away." The tweet earned over 95,400 retweets and 196,000 likes in three weeks, prompting other manga artists to post their own versions[1].

Is Amabie the same as Amabiko?

Possibly. There is only one historical record of Amabie, while amabiko has a dozen or more attestations dating back to the 1840s. Many researchers believe "amabie" was simply a miscopying of "amabiko," though Amabie's mermaid-like appearance differs from most amabiko depictions[6].

What famous artists drew Amabie?

Horror manga artist Junji Ito drew an Amabie in his signature style in May 2020. Other notable participants included Chica Umino (Honey and Clover), Mari Okazaki, and Toshinao Aoki[10].

Why does Amabie's beak look like a face mask?

The creature's bird-like beak, as depicted in the original 1846 woodblock, coincidentally looks similar to a paper surgical mask. This visual accident made Amabie feel especially fitting as a pandemic symbol, though it was entirely unintentional[10].

How is Amabie pronounced?

Amabie is pronounced "Ah-mah-bee-eh" (four syllables). The name is written アマビエ in Japanese katakana[9].

Amabie

2020Participatory illustration challenge / folk art memeclassic

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: アマビエ · Amabie Challenge · #AMABIEchallenge

Amabie is a Japanese yōkai from 1846 folklore that exploded into a global participatory art movement during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The three-legged, beak-faced sea creature, said to ward off disease when its image is shared, inspired tens of thousands of original illustrations posted under hashtags like #AMABIEchallenge. What started as a niche bit of Edo-period folklore turned into one of 2020's most distinctive internet memes, crossing from Japanese Twitter to international art communities and government public health campaigns.

yokai memes covid 19 memes japanese internet memes drawing fad memes global crossover memes

Overview

Amabie, a mermaid-like spirit from Japanese folklore depicted with long hair, a bird's beak, fish scales, and three fin-like legs. According to legend, the creature appeared to a government official in Higo Province (modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture) in 1846, predicted six years of good harvests followed by disease, and instructed the official to draw its image and share it with the sick1. This encounter was documented in a single woodblock-printed bulletin called a kawaraban, now housed at the Kyoto University Library4.

For over 170 years, Amabie stayed almost entirely forgotten. Then in early 2020, as COVID-19 spread across Japan and the world, Japanese social media users rediscovered the creature's legend and began drawing and sharing their own versions. The meme's core mechanic was baked into the original folklore: draw Amabie, share the image, ward off plague. It was, as Stanford graduate student Victoria Rahbar put it, "an Edo Period meme"1.

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter (Japan)

Key People

@shigeokahide, Mizuki Production

Date

2020 (meme revival; folklore origin 1846)

The legend dates to mid-May 1846, when a glowing object appeared nightly in the sea off Higo Province4. A town official went to investigate and encountered a bizarre creature that identified itself as Amabie. It predicted good harvests for six years but warned of coming disease, instructing the official: "Draw a picture of me and show the picture of me to those who fall ill"2. The official sketched the creature and the story was published via kawaraban, the woodblock-printed news sheets of the Edo period.

Amabie's record exists only in that single broadsheet preserved by Kyoto University Library4. Scholars believe the name may be a copyist's error for "amabiko," a similar prophetic yōkai with far more extensive historical documentation dating back to the 1840s6. Unlike the mermaid-like Amabie, amabiko was depicted in various forms, from ape-like figures to daruma doll shapes.

Amabie stayed obscure for generations. A small number of anime fans knew the creature from its appearance in the 2007 anime adaptation of GeGeGe no Kitarō, Shigeru Mizuki's famous yōkai manga franchise, where it appeared as a cute, pastel-scaled mermaid friend of the title character10. But for most people, Amabie was a deep-cut footnote in yōkai studies until COVID-19 changed everything.

How It Spread

On February 28, 2020, Twitter user @shigeokahide posted a drawing of Amabie captioned "Coronavirus measures," picking up over 100 retweets and 240 likes5. In the following days, yōkai fans and artists like @orochidou and @KitanoYoukaiten shared their own illustrations. A tweet by @youmisedori earned 29,900 retweets and 35,000 likes within five days5.

On March 6, Kyoto University Library posted the original 1846 woodblock print on its Twitter account, drawing attention to the primary source document and giving the movement an air of scholarly legitimacy7. Japanese users began uploading Amabie art under hashtags including #アマビエ, #アマビエチャレンジ (Amabie Challenge), and #アマビエ祭り (Amabie Fes), with the trend spreading to Pixiv, Nico Nico Seiga, and Instagram5. J-CAST and the Jiji Press wire service both covered the growing movement3.

The biggest single boost came on March 17, when Mizuki Production, the estate of legendary yōkai manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, tweeted an illustration of Amabie with the caption "May the modern-day plague go away"1. That tweet earned over 95,400 retweets and 196,000 likes in three weeks. Other manga artists followed, including Mari Okazaki, who told BBC: "I think people who see all of that [dark news] want to enjoy themselves"1.

By late March, the #AMABIEchallenge hashtag had appeared in English, and according to Google Trends the search term had spread to five continents1.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (14)

1
妖怪「アマビエ」のイラストがSNSで人気　伝承に脚光「疫病が流行れば私の絵を見せよ」: J-CAST ニュースarticle
2
amabie | Suzanne's Mom's Blogarticle
3
Amabie: The Japanese monster going viralarticle
4
Amabie - Know Your Memeencyclopedia
5
Amabieencyclopedia
6
Shigeru Mizukiencyclopedia
7
Yōkai - Wikipediaencyclopedia
8
GeGeGe no Kitarō - Wikipediaencyclopedia
9
Amabie - Drawing on Yokai History in Japan - Studio Deannaarticle
10
16 Artist Interpretations of Amabie, a Mythical Japanese Creature Said to Ward Off Diseasearticle
11
Amabie - TV Tropesarticle
12
In Japan, Mythical 'Amabie' Emerges From 19th Century Folklore To Fight COVID-19 | KHSUarticle
13
What Kind of Yokai is Amabie, the Yokai Said to Prevent Epidemics? Introducing Its Origins and Why It Became Populararticle
14
新型コロナウイルス感染症について｜厚生労働省article